Devotionals

Paul tells us that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26) because he recognizes that death continues to plague creation even though Christ dealt it a mortal blow by His own death and resurrection. Death still ...Read More

The final judgment in today’s chapter was predicted to come after the exile of Israel and Judah. We live on the other side of this exile, though the New Testament does not foresee it coming to its full and final ...Read More

Today’s passage also speaks of an altar to God in the midst of Egypt (Isa. 19:19). Matthew Henry sees this as pointing to the worship of God in spirit and truth in all places as Jesus describes in John 4:21–24: ...Read More

In today’s passage, the king of Babylon is denied burial, and his corpse is left out in the open (Isa. 14:18–20b). This was the most shameful thing that could happen to a person in the ancient Near East, so the ...Read More

Scripture often talks about the overthrow of other gods, but not because the biblical writers saw these gods as real deities that were equivalent in power and position to the one true God of Israel. Instead, the overthrow of these ...Read More

One of the things that makes Jesus the Messiah greater than even David himself is His righteousness in judging the poor and deciding with equity for “the meek of the earth” (Isa. 11:4). Christ is the incomparably noble and righteous ...Read More

Scripture often speaks of God doing a new thing (Isa. 43:19), but this does not mean He is working in an entirely unprecedented manner. Instead, it means that there are connections to the way God has worked in the past, ...Read More

Scholars have long debated whether the original Hebrew of today’s passage is better translated “virgin” or “young woman.” This is a worthy debate, but if we are not careful, we could miss this key point: just as the son born ...Read More

Today’s passage is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the temple of God who is exalted over all the nations (Mark 14:58; John 2:13–22). How much of this Isaiah clearly understood is hard to say, but he knew for sure that his ...Read More

Scripture teaches in several places that God will give people the desires of their hearts. For the Christian, this is a blessing, for as we delight ourselves in the Lord, our desires will more and more line up with God’s ...Read More